You Are What You Believe.

I want to tell you something.
This is going to sound crazy, possibly even heretical.
But…

STOP.

Stop what, you ask?
Stop trying.

Let me back up a moment.
I’m not advocating you just up and drop all your responsibilities to be a gypsy in the desert (though, if you can make that work for you, by all means).
I’m telling you to stop trying to be you.
Stop trying to earn your place in this world.
Stop trying to prove you belong here.

Because the truth is: you already do.
You are born with an immense amount of potential and power.
But most of us, myself included, are perpetual forgetters of those simple truths.

Do you ever wonder why it is you wake up each morning and repeatedly do things you hate?
Why you feel like you strive to be better at this or fight to break something you just never seem to shake?
Why you eventually feel like you may as well give in to the things you know must be true of yourself?

Well, I do.
Moreover, I have.
But I don’t, anymore.

Because, at the end of the day, what you believe about yourself and the world around you matters.
It matters infinitely more than you likely realize.

Guess what?
If you wake up in the morning believing “I’m just a screw up,” or “I’m a whore,” or “I can’t do this,” or “I’ll never be ________,” that’s exactly what you’ll be.
You will act like what you believe a screw up is or a whore is or a failure is or just like this person or not enough like that person, or whatever it is you’re fighting against.

Now, you may be thinking, “I don’t wake up thinking those thoughts; I don’t really believe these lies about myself.”
But let me ask you this, what do your actions say?
Do you do things you hate that you can’t seem to break away from?
Do you go to a job you hate but never make strives to change your situation?
Do you feel the need to one-up those around you, just so you don’t get thrown to the curb?

Then, I’d venture to say, something you believe about yourself or the world is amiss.

The world will tell you, you can’t
They will tell you, you are a screw up, that you were born into a broken situation, so you will inevitably remain in said situation.
That you struggle with this addiction or that character flaw and you will never be able to change.

But I’m here to tell you: that’s all a bunch of bullshit.

You are capable.
You are not a screw up.
You are not your affliction.
And you have the power to change your situation.

Try something for me.
Sure, it seems silly, but what have you got to lose?
Take some time, right now, to think about your life.
Are you happy with how things are?
Are you struggling?
Are you striving?

If that’s you, just like it’s been me, won’t you shift your perspective a little?

Tell yourself the truth about who you are.
Start believing you are already enough, that you already have the power to change your situation, to stop believing all the terrible things you believe you are.

Change begins with faith.
Faith inspires others.
Belief in someone, belief in yourself, will cause you and those around you to accomplish far more than you could ever dream.

And that is priceless.

I dare you to change what you believe.
I dare you to stop believing lies about yourself.
I dare you to believe you can and you will, not you can’t and you won’t.

Because you will always end up exactly where you believe you will.